Archive for August, 2012

The Night Circus. If you’re a publisher, you’ve probably spent long weekends clutching your head, weeping, wondering how it wasn’t you who published this internationally beloved debut. If you’re a reviewer, you’ve likely lingered over your typewriter, swishing your tumbler, wondering if transcendent mellifluousness was really the phrase you wanted to use. If you’re a […]

Anyone who believes writers are only in it for the cash should probably start writing fiction for a living. The readers, authors, publishers, and many other volunteers of Queensland, Australia are here to prove this point wrong. In April of this year, the announcement of the demise of the Queensland Literary Awards was met with […]

One of my favorite book groups to facilitate is the annual in-service of the Department of Clinical Social Work at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. A couple of years ago, the department supervisor thought it would be a good idea to have all the social workers and counselors read a book with ties to […]

Cindy and Lynn: Earlier this week we spent all day helping to do an inventory of one of our district elementary libraries. Inventories aren’t unusual of course but the reason we were doing the collection count was that in the spring the administrators eliminated the library secretary positions. Since the elementary librarians spend 98% of […]

As the Literary Sluts say, they’ll go to bed with any book. They are a diverse group of 7 women, from a librarian to a former lawyer, who just love to write about the books they are reading. They feature a monthly virtual book club, reviews of books old and new across all genres, and […]

In the introduction to Modern Arab American Fiction: A Reader’s Guide, author Steven Salaita is happy to report that his first book, Arab American Literary Fictions, Cultures and Politics was outdated upon publication. Salaita considers this lucky because it lead to the publication of Modern Arab American Fiction which allowed the author to explore the […]

The October release of best-selling author Jasper Fforde’s first book for teens is big news–some might even call it “a historic event of magical proportions”– so it’s no surprise that with it comes this breaking news-style trailer: Read the high-demand review of The Last Dragonslayer here. And get excited!

“Bad Monkeys” is slang for the people Jane Charlotte eliminates for “The Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons.” This secret information can’t be verified, of course, and Jane’s confessing it from a mental ward as she’s being evaluated to stand trial for murder. Jane’s twisted tales are just plausible enough to be true. […]

“As he told her that he loved her she gazed into his eyes, wondering, as she noticed the infestation of eyelash mites, the tiny deodicids burrowing into his follicles to eat the greasy sebum therein, each female laying up to 25 eggs in a single follicle, causing inflammation, whether the eyes are truly the windows […]

Voice coach legend Bettye Zoller Seitz joins Paul Ruben, Johnny Heller, & Pat Fraley in my series on how audiobook narrators learn skills that lead to success. Bettye’s experience as a voice-over artist and narrator, along with her professional audio engineer skills, provide a wealth of wisdom for her workshop students. Here’s more from Bettye… Who is the […]

Cindy: Please wash your hands before you read this post! Measles, whooping cough, and now an outbreak of typhus … in youth literature, that is! A few years ago, Lynn and I posted about a fictional Typhoid Mary story, Deadly (2011) by Julie Chibbaro, and I was intrigued about Mary Mallon and her real story. This year […]

Lynn: Renowned author Paul Fleischman is a man on a mission. He wants teens to look beyond their own “internal movie,” beyond the dazzling technological changes in our world to the side effects and huge environmental problems we face. Using in-your-face, blunt language in Eyes Wide Open: Going Beyond the Environmental Headlines (2014), Fleischman sets about […]

Lynn: As an educator, a parent, and a grandparent, one of my goals has been to fan the flames of curiosity in kids. It’s a critical trait and one that often seems to get squashed somewhere along the K-12 march. I love books that encourage kids to ask questions. Marc Aronson’s books always seem to […]

Cindy: Please wash your hands before you read this post! Measles, whooping cough, and now an outbreak of typhus … in youth literature, that is! A few years ago, Lynn and I posted about a fictional Typhoid Mary story, Deadly (2011) by Julie Chibbaro, and I was intrigued about Mary Mallon and her real story. This year […]

Lynn: Renowned author Paul Fleischman is a man on a mission. He wants teens to look beyond their own “internal movie,” beyond the dazzling technological changes in our world to the side effects and huge environmental problems we face. Using in-your-face, blunt language in Eyes Wide Open: Going Beyond the Environmental Headlines (2014), Fleischman sets about […]

Lynn: As an educator, a parent, and a grandparent, one of my goals has been to fan the flames of curiosity in kids. It’s a critical trait and one that often seems to get squashed somewhere along the K-12 march. I love books that encourage kids to ask questions. Marc Aronson’s books always seem to […]